Our guide, Stefan, picked us up at 8:00 am and away we went to visit Peles Castle. This was one of the very last castles constructed in Europe and was built with electricity and indoor plumbing. It was also lavishly decorated with all kinds of exquisite furnishings and materials. We were supposed to be able to tour on our own, but got lumped in with two other tour groups. Worked out well, though, because the guide showed and explained lots of things we would have missed on our own.
After finishing our tour, we left and went to Brasov. The whole area reminds me of Germany insofar as the architecture is concerned. Stefan took us to visit The Black Church, so named due to a fire that left soot all over the stones. No photos were allowed inside, which is a shame because it was very pretty.
We ate lunch at one of Stefan's favorite places--pork shank with cabbage for me and Transylvanian Stew for Rich. Both quite tasty!
We journeyed on to visit Dracula's castle and I've got to say, it was a bit disappointing. I'd been looking forward to that for almost two months since we booked the tour, and felt like it was a bait and switch scheme! First off, the castle was built as a fortress ONLY, not as a home. Then there's the fact that Vlad Dracula never lived there! He is a real person, but was only bad for his enemies, not his own people. The Bram Stoker novel uses his name and fortress in his story and that's what's stuck in people's minds over the years. Kind of a let down.
It took us almost 3 hours to get back to the apartment! The mountains were beautiful and in spite of the long drive, I'm glad we made the journey!